Museum of the American Revolution

Examining our history through new eyes.

Located just steps from Independence Mall, and designed by world-renowned architect Robert A.M. Stern, the Museum of the American Revolution is the first in history to tell the full story of the Revolutionary War.

Over the last decade, the Museum of the American Revolution has called on Bluecadet to collaborate on dozens of projects and campaigns, including developing their logo, their website, fundraising materials, and an award-winning educational app. Most recently, our partnership resulted in several linear media treatments and all of the interactive experiences in the new museum.

Decoding the Revolution

Posters of Protest: 1765-1774 presents and interprets a collection of high-resolution images of historic handbills, cartoons, and broadsides that depict the decade-long escalation to war. When visitors approach, proximity sensors trigger individual documents to grow and greet visitors with interpretive points of interest that encourage pinching, zooming, decoding, and comparing these rare, rich and fragile artifacts.

African American Stories

In the chaos of the Revolution, free and enslaved African Americans faced harrowing decisions and sometimes saw unexpected opportunities with both the Revolutionaries and the Loyalists. Bluecadet worked directly with historians to script and animate Finding Freedom: African Americans in Wartime Virginia,a series of interactive narratives, enabling visitors to come face to face with people whose decisions, perils, and victories have gone largely untold.

Mapping the Road to War

Season of Independence: The People Speak, January–July 1776 allows visitors to explore the 88 regional declarations that preceded Jefferson’s famed Declaration of Independence. Through an interactive data visualization, visitors experience the surge of support for rebellion and encounter colonists, revolutionaries, Native Americans, and loyalists who represented the breadth of opinion about liberty and gave shape to the revolution.

The Devil’s in the Details

The Museum has brought together some of the most important and compelling weapons of the American Revolution, but what distinguishes these artifacts (small details that tell bigger stories) can be easily lost to visitors when objects are displayed behind glass. To remedy this, Bluecadet created Arms of Independence, 1775–1783, capturing these objects using the latest in rigged, ultra-high definition photography. We then empowered the visitor to explore these objects by spinning, pinching, and zooming, to uncover their mysteries and encourage deeper thought about their role in democracy.

Projecting mood, content, and texture

Beyond the interactive programs, we developed a suite of projections that add texture and ambiance to the experience of the Museum. From animated quotes and illustrations to enhanced artifacts, Bluecadet leveraged a range of cinematic techniques and modes to enliven and enrich the visitor experience.